OVP: Black Legion (1937)

Film: Black Legion (1937)

Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Dick Foran, Erin O'Brien-Moore, Ann Sheridan

Director: Archie Mayo

Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Original Motion Picture Story)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

I'm still finishing up some of the 2020 reviews that I know are important for the Oscar conversation (which is hitting high-gear next week with the Globes & the SAG Awards being announced next week).  However, as we start to wind down 2020-21 Oscar season in terms of viewing (even if predictions are just getting started), we'll begin to move back into classic cinema at a bigger clip.  I was doing "theme weeks" throughout the entirety of 2020 as part of quarantine, but as I'm focusing on a few side projects that require more of my time (including one for the blog!), we'll be moving away from that even if I might bring it out of its dormancy on occasion.  Instead, we're going to go back to random (oftentimes) Oscar-cited works from across the cinematic spectrum, though in some cases random will read more as prescient, which is the case with today's film Black Legion, which was the film that was "supposed" to be Humphrey Bogart's big break, but didn't really come of that (more below).

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie is a short message picture.  Bogart plays an affable, if unlucky guy named Frank Taylor who works at a factory and in the opening scenes seems like a surefire bet to become the plant foreman.  He & his wife Ruth (O'Brien-Moore) are ecstatic about this and what it may mean for their young family, but when they pick a different man for the job (one who has been studying the machinery rather than relying on gut instinct like Frank) who happens to be an immigrant, Frank becomes xenophobic & bitter.  This attracts the attention of a local secret organization called the Black Legion, who recruit Frank & with him start terrorizing local people who stand in Frank's way, with a particular focus on the immigrant community of the city.  Frank tries to escape the organization, but they threaten his wife & child, and he is eventually abandoned by his wife (ending up with a local "woman of ill repute").  His friend Ed (Foran) tries to save him, but is instead flogged, and while Ed is trying to escape, Frank kills him.  He realizes instantly his mistake, but still bows to the Black Legion until he takes the stand at a trial for Ed's murder, when he confesses everything and outs all of the Black Legion members in town.  The ending is a dour one for Bogart, with he & the rest of the men sentenced to life in prison.

Message pictures of this ilk were quite popular in the 1930's & 40's, and for the most part they've aged poorly.  The problem with issue pictures is frequently that they are no longer "hot button issues" years later, and thus it's hard to really comprehend what a movie would've meant in its time frame for a modern audience.  However, this is sadly not the case for Black Legion.  Just a few weeks after terrorists brandishing Confederate flags sieged the US Capitol, it's clear that racism & xenophobia are alive & well in the United States, and are in fact the platform of a major political party.  As a result, Black Legion is more relevant than ever.  The problem for the film is that it occasionally is so deliberate in telling its story, underlining who is "good" and who is "bad" (leaving only Frank in the middle), that it reads more like an after-school special than an organic film.

The movie is a noteworthy curiosity for two reasons (both of which are reason to check it out).  The first is that it's dark.  While the organization goes by "the Black Legion," it's clear to anyone (then & now) that the organization is meant to represent the KKK (so closely that the KKK sued Warner Brothers for using their patented logo, though the case was eventually dismissed).  I will admit on a random Wednesday night that I was not prepared to watch quintessential movie star Humphrey Bogart suckered into literally being a member of the KKK, and the initiation sequence (where Bogart basically signs a blood oath with the hate group at gun point) is shockingly raw.  

The second reason to like this is that Bogart is great.  The National Board of Review gave him the award for Best Actor at the time.  Though I didn't love his courtroom confession, the menacing hatred he feels combined with our natural instincts to trust Bogart (he's almost always the hero), make this is a chilling performance that plays off of his star persona.  This is likely giving the film too much credit (even if it works), because in 1937 Bogart wasn't a proper star yet.  Though he'd gained notice in movies like The Petrified Forest, this wasn't the big break many thought it'd be, and he'd wander the wilderness on the Warner Brothers lot until 1941's High Sierra, which transformed him into a legend.